The Big Blue Daily Mail -- Welcome to My Poster Edition

Much has been made of John Wall's recent, "Welcome to my poster," throw down over former Tar Heel Jerry Stackhouse, and of course, it is certainly newsworthy and schadenfreude-worthy.  But that pales completely in comparison with a recent effort by Virginia Tech, putting up a permanent memorial to Deron Washington's "teabag" of Greg Paulus.

Now, for the news:

Top Stories

• Early Highlight for Kentucky Recruit - The Quad Blog - NYTimes.com
  The viral Wall over Stackhouse video hits the New York Times. Kind of cool ...

• Calipari-isms " Crossroads Christian Church: Andover Campus
  Interesting comments here. I particularly like this one:
  
  "Players have to be self-motivated. If a player comes back after the summer overweight or out of shape, I say, ‘You kidder. You don’t really want to play in the NBA. Let’s figure out what you want to do with your life.’" Then he added, "If you have to watch them all the time, they will never be effective and neither will you."
  
  Indeed.

• Best Case/Worst Case Scenarios: UK Basketball
  This is thoughtful and interesting. I pretty much agree with everything in here.

• Shanoff's W.U.C.: Panic Time for BoSox Fans?
  YouTube Clip of the Day: That would be John Wall dunking on Jerry Stackhouse in a summer-league game. Wall is not just already the best player in college basketball, but he could start in the NBA tomorrow -- which is why he will be the No. 1 overall pick of the NBA Draft in 2010.
  
  Well. There you go.

UK Basketball News

• Josh Selby to visit UConn on Wednesday John Clay’s Sidelines
  Big Blue Links for Monday.

• Can John Wall's first assist at UK be C.J Leslie?
  Interesting question. Maybe. I expect CJ Leslie to be a Wildcat, but it's not a lead-pipe cinch.

• Preparing Calipari for Rupp: UK Pep Band Surrounds Court
  Heh.

• This Week in Review...10 Years Ago
  I always love these kind of things.

• Some Marquis Teague stuff….
  Very interesting reading about a big-time recruit that apparently likes the cut of UK's jib.

• UK picks IMG to continue plans for arena
  Offered without comment.

• Team of the 2000s: #10 – Maryland
  Great analysis as always by Rush the Court. Enjoy.

• Calipari Recruiting New Territory: China
  Interesting post by Adam Zagoria. Read the whole thing.

• Bluegrass State Basketball: Cats Should Count Their Blessings on Dominique Ferguson
  I don't think I agree that there is something wrong here. I am willing to chalk it up to Thomas' good recruiting, he has landed a couple of other good players already. The age of the little guys not being able to land players is long since over. We should all know this by now.

UK Football News

• Wildcats want to become a major player in the SEC
  Heh. Yeah. And I want to become a full-time, highly paid blogger. Want in one hand and poop in the other and see which fills up first.
  
  Both the Wildcats and I have some work to do.

• Ineligible last season, UK's Paul Warford returns
  Warford will be a big help in the UK defensive backfield. I think we are looking good in that area of the defense. If we can only get some pressure on quarterbacks ...

• Football season upon us
  Yes, Chris, thank heavens. In answer to his question about Cobb, he had better be huge. But Hartline is the #1 question.

• The Toughest Schedules in the SEC
  Gators First has a very good look at the toughest overall schedules in the SEC. UK is in the middle of the pack, where I would expect. Of course, given all the commentary around here lately, you might expect them to be dead last and the butt of jokes. Not so.

• Monday Morning Required Reading - Roll 'Bama Roll
  Kelph Kleph at RBR remembers Bob Hallum, who played for Coach Bear Bryant when he was at UK. Thanks to Kleph.

• Longest Tenured Coaches without a BCS Bowl
  Heh. Well, Brooks is tied for 7th, but I truly do not expect him to ever darken the door of a BCS bowl. He will retire before that happens, I suspect.

• Wildcats Are Stronger, Faster, but Still Underdogs Beyond the Bluegrass -- NCAA Football FanHouse
  Really nice, honest look at UK football by Jim Henry of Fanhouse. This is a very fair piece, both to Kentucky and to everyone else. Recommended.

• Fields has learned what it takes to play
  I'm looking forward to seeing him this year. He was a stud in high school.

• UK has high hopes for juco teammates
  More on Chris Matthews and DeQuin Evans. It is a little bit unusual for UK to be successfully recruiting out west. It's good to have them both here.

Other UK Sports News

NCAA Sports News

• Could we see Jasper in town again?
  No, not in Lexington, but in his home town.

• SEC 'Lightbulb' Jokes
  Very, very funny. I love these things. C'mon, laugh at yourself!

• FIU basketball snares coveted recruit Dominique Ferguson
  I know I linked a similar article before, but I use this as an opportunity to ask a question: When will we be hearing about how Thomas is violating NCAA rules? How could he otherwise recruit such talent to a school like FIU? Just askin' ... (note tongue firmly in cheek)

• Frustrated by title game loss, Sooners start anew
  The Sooners have won an unprecedented three straight Big 12 titles and have three straight BCS bowl defeats to show for it, with back-to-back Fiesta Bowl losses to Boise State and West Virginia preceding the Gators' triumph in Miami.
  
  Heh. Kind of the reverse of UK, but on a much grander scale.

• Breaking down the Coaches Poll | Mr. College Football
  SEC (5): Florida (1), Alabama (5), LSU (9), Ole Miss (10), Georgia (13). It’s not surprising to have five SEC teams ranked. It’s not totally surprising to have four in the Top 10, because Ole Miss is getting a lot of love from a lot of people. What is surprising is for the SEC not to have a team ranked in positions 14-25. Auburn, Kentucky, Arkansas, South Carolina, and Tennessee all received votes. Vanderbilt and Mississippi State were the only SEC teams which did not receive votes. Interesting.

Other News of Interest

• Macy's still got game, on a different court
  Did you know Macy was a tennis pro? I confess to some surprise ... not that he's a tennis player, but that he is the head pro at Idle Hour. Well. There you go.

• Lost Lettermen • View topic - Jeff Sheppard: Inside My Clothing Line
  Very cool comments from Jeff. I kind of agree with him about the current state of UK's apparel, but I suspect that is more Nike-driven than anything else.

The Daily Schadenfreude

• Kentucky is ridiculous...
  I just have to laugh. Embrace. The. Hate.

• Wright headed to Pitt
  Indiana loses one to the Panthers, but his list of suitors isn't exactly a "who's who" of college basketball. Solid schools, but none of the really elite.